WHO study: Finnish school is not so black as it is painted

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”The Finnish school is better than its reputation”, declared Prof. Lasse Kannas from the University of Jyväskylä, referring to reports on cross-national surveys relating to the health and social contexts of school-aged children conducted from 1994 to 2006 by the World Health Organization (WHO).
     
Kannas was in charge of the Finnish research group, and his statement is significant, as the general impression largely based on the WHO surveys has been that Finnish pupils’ perceived well-being at school is poor, as these institutions are more or less some sort of ”learning factories”.
      According to Kannas, Finnish schools started campaigning in the 1990s for better school communities, which can be seen in improved well-being.
     
A distinct improvement has happened for example in the relations between teachers and pupils, which ten years ago were still regarded as challenging.
      Pupils’ positive experiences relating to teachers’ fairness and to teachers’ encouragement of students to express opinions are clearly reflected in the atmosphere at schools.
      However, there is still room for improvement as regards pupil participation in compiling school rules.
     
The feeling of security perceived by children at school became more common particularly in the period from 2002 to 2006, when the most recent survey was conducted.
      It is worth noting, therefore, that the recent school shootings and the subsequent copycat threats do not appear in the findings of the report.
      The next WHO study relating to the health behaviour in school-aged children is to be carried out in 2010.
     
The report shows that the proportion of bullied pupils decreased by a few percentage points from 1994 to 2006.
      In terms of reported health outcomes, no major changes have taken place, while the occurrence of symptoms has increased.
      Kannas notes further that the school-aged children’s sleeping rhythm has become more rational, but the quality of sleep should be improved.
      Absenteeism is a sign of low life satisfaction and cases should be immediately responded to, Kannas adds.
     
The Finnish report from the WHO cross-national study, jointly produced by the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE) and the University of Jyväskylä, provides the latest evidence on the perceived health and social contexts of young people in the 5th, 7th, and 9th grades of Finnish comprehensive schools in 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006.
      Approximately 20, 000 Finnish pupils responded to the four questionnaires.


Links:
  WHO Regional Office for Europe: Young people´s health and health-related behaviours
  Finnish National Board of Education
  University of Jyväskylä

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